Eleanor is, um, not a believer. She is only five years old, so David and I have mostly tried to ignore her long-winded explanations of how things REALLY work, and Emma Lucy has attempted to reason her back to belief. Finally, the other day, she came to me when I was sitting in the living room and asked point-blank, "I don't think Santa is real. Am I right?"
One of the advantages of having lots of children is that occasionally I've thought through these questions for someone else and have an answer ready. (Of course, Sam and I had this discussion when he was eight years old--not five!).
I said to her, "You know how you love to play pretend and how you like me to pretend with you? We have so much fun playing store or house or whatever we decide and sometimes we wish we could just keep playing and playing and not have to stop to make dinner or go to school. Well, what if the whole world--not just the kids but all the grown-ups too--decided to pretend something together? How fun would that be?"
To the magic of Christmas and shining eyes...
6 comments:
That is a great explanation. I've been starting to get worried about when Rowan starts to wonder, how I will address the issue. I've been trying to give myself some wiggle room, but playing it in the Grandad way...
"I don't think I believe in Santa Claus."
"But dad, he IS real."
"Wouldn't he be really old, and ugly by now? I think that someone just sneaks in our house and leaves lots of their old junk on the floor. We'd better lock the door and light a good fire."
"Dad, you are just teasing me. I know that he is really really real."
However, this year I have a firm believer. In fa
Wow. It had never occurred to me that Grandad was doing anything but teasing us.
The big question is whether you tell Rowan you're the second ugliest man on earth or not...
I love "Well, what if the whole world--not just the kids but all the grown-ups too--decided to pretend something together? How fun would that be?"
Well put. I have a 5-year-old who is quite precocious and I fear she will catch on much sooner than I had planned.
(By the way, my name is Sarah Rasmussen Bateman and David was my Seminary teacher in Alameda when we met in the Hunters' home. Many years ago. Good memories.)
He did try to tell her that, but I discouraged it because Rowan looks so much like Nathan. Rowan did say to me the other day in a very serious tone, "Mom, Dad told me a lie. He said there isn't a Santa Claus."
I really like this explanation as well and know it will come in handy.
Sarah--We remember you very fondly! In fact, I think about you and the rest of that seminary class just about every week while I'm teaching seminary here. And it sounds like our five year olds may have a lot in common!
Alicia--Good thing we have reasonable people to rein in the teasing tendencies in our family.
I'm definately using this when my kids come to me. So far they are believers though. :)
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